Hair
by Her Head In the Clouds
Summary: When you're bored and tired and all you've got are the people around you, let's see what you get... AerrowPiper of some sorts


_**A/n: **Alright, so I pretty much failed at my challenge already aw but I have a good excuse! I wrote this earlier in today but when it came time to editing, the computer died and I had to go out and get a new charger so time kinda stretched on for its full completion. Lol, but enough about me, here's my second fic. I hope you enjoy it~ I liked writing this one :)_

* * *

_::Dedicated to my first reviewers, plumia somnium, MiriZen, and one of my home girls Kathleen, our egg girl :) Your reviews made me smile~_

* * *

_**Hair**_

**_July 06, 2010_**

**_by: Her Head in the Clouds_**

* * *

Radarr chirps happily. His big yellow eyes are protruding from their eye sockets as he takes in the world around him and the person above his head. With his tiny head angled to some degree, he is grinning cheekily as he raises a small paw and stretches his lanky body higher off the ground. It doesn't take much for his little purple fingers to reach their destination and when they do, he makes another teeny chirrup and gives his arm a good long swipe of the air. His fingers brush against her hair noticeably and as quickly as Piper gets up to turn around to give him 'the look', he's already scampering to safety behind Junko's massive sleeping form on a nearby chair.

"Radarrrr…" Piper calls out with that warning tone in her voice. "I already told you to stop doing that! Don't make me get up!"

Radarr quickly defends himself by making a loud whimper, clearly trying to deject his actions with guilt and apology. Finn for once is quick to dive into their exchange with a defence on Radarr's behalf too.

"Aw come on, Piper. Let him have some fun like the rest of us!" he says in a tired voice but there is that regular smirk on his face when he taunts to her. "Besides, who can blame him? Your hair is seriously getting long!"

To prove his point, he reaches over from where he sits beside her on the couch to take a sweep at the back of her head. The indigo-shade of hair that was once standing tall on top of her head is depressing slightly, falling flimsy-like at the ends and is hanging like wispy curls behind her headband. As she feels his unwelcome sensation, she lifts her head away from its resting place and swats his hand away.

"Hey!" she exclaims. She snaps her head to find his teasing expression. She shoots him daggers with her molten-coloured eyes. "Stop that!" He laughs.

"See? I told you! Hey, when's the last time you went to get your hair cut, Piper?"

Piper scrunches her face in discomfort. She hates it when people, especially Finn, pester her about her appearance or habits. She only knows how irritated she was when Arygyn the Weaver commented on her choice in outfit the first time they met.

"..." She grumbles and doesn't want to answer him. Stork suddenly appears from behind the couch where they are all lazing themselves on.

"You _and_ Aerrow." He says in that painfully agonized voice. "Long hair can only mean more of an increased risk in inviting blood-sucking ticks, scorpion-fly eggs, or worse... mind worms! "

With a look of disapproval, he leans over to where Aerrow is situated in a haphazard heap of boredom. Aerrow looks up at the merb in time to see him finger his fiery, red mane. The Sky Knight gives him a look but Stork doesn't see it. Stork continues with a slight smirk and tick in his eye.

"And, it also means split-ends. Wouldn't want you two shedding all over the _Condor_ like Radarr, now would we?"

Radarr hearing the comment, pokes his head from behind slumbering Junko's shoulder and gives Stork the most offended growl he can. It's loud but it's doesn't affect Junko because honestly, what does? Finn chuckles and goes in again to swipe Piper's hair. She swiftly smacks his arm. He retreats instantly.

"Seriously, Finn! It's not funny!"

"Junko and I went to get our hair cut about a month ago…" He runs a hand through his gelled-back tresses, smirking devilishly. "And I might I say that I am _still_ looking totally hot."

Piper rolls her eyes and looks across the room. He continues.

"Aerrow gave Radarr a good trim about two weeks ago…"

"Thank goodness..." Stork mumbles intentionally loud. Radarr sends him a glare.

"And I'm pretty sure Stork's given himself a good snip or two recently…" Finn shoots a thumb in the direction of their melancholy helmsman. "I mean he must have... _otherwise his hair would've been down to his butt by now if he doesn't_." Stork leans over him with a glowering look.

"You're terrible at whispering, you know?" he says clearly irritated with the comment.

Aerrow chuckles in his place beside Finn. Feeling a sudden burst of energy grow within, he finds the strength to pull himself up from his lazy position and gives Finn a look as he bends his tall, lean frame slightly over his knees in some thought.

"Yeah, I remember when you two went," Aerrow says calmly as he ponders on the memory. "Piper and I were busy that day with some extra stuff and we'd said that we'd catch up with you when it was finished…"

"But we never got around to it," Piper finishes his sentence, scowling a little as she remembers the same day too. "Not when Raptor and his goons dropped in for a _surprise_ attack." She smirks immediately after saying this. She knows the rest to this story as well as anyone – who do _you_ think obviously one that clash?

Aerrow puts a gloved hand under his chin, his eyebrows furrowing together.

"Hmm, I guess we forgot and never got around to going did we?" he asks Piper. He turns to her with a warm smile. Piper shrugs and returns it but Finn, as usual, breaks a fuzzy moment between the two.

"Psh, yeah you did! I mean look at you, Aerrow!" he exclaims laughing while reaching over to ruffle Aerrow's head. "You've got a serious mop-top growing there buddy!"

Wild, red hair flies in Aerrow's eyes and all he can do is laugh and try to wave Finn's hand away. He knows it's true. In recent days, the Sky Knight finds himself rubbing his neck a lot because his hair has gotten so long that it's tickling his skin. He never really cared for boy-cut trims – he liked the way the wind and rushing air in the open sky made his scalp feel, and the way his hair blew back and around him. But its length was now starting to get on his nerves.

When Finn stops and pulls his hand away, Aerrow looks back at his buddy just in time to see Piper's hand smack the sharpshooter in the back of the head. It must've been hard, considering the sound it makes, the way Aerrow finds himself cringing, and how Finn's surprised and painful yelp bounces off the _Condor's_ steel walls around them.

"Hey!" Finn shouts, his face a twist of dislike.

"I told you to _knock It Off!_" Piper's voice is loud and threatening and everyone knows what's about to come next – her wickedly famous temper and a five-minute lecture on Finn's maturity. Not to upset the peace, Aerrow heroically jumps in as Finn's life-saver, like usual.

"Now come on, you two. Play nice. It's a great day today and we already get enough of that on a regular Cyclonian-filled afternoon," Aerrow's voice is calm and generic, but everyone awake in the room knows he's directly talking to Piper. Seeing her wide-eyes alert with anger and a slight reddening in her cheeks, Aerrow gives her a sheepish grin. "Besides, you wouldn't want to wake up the big guy would you?"

Piper shoots her gaze behind the couch past Stork's gangly figure to Junko, still asleep and looking innocent as ever. Her rage instantly melts into a cool puddle of guilt and she sighs heavily.

"No…" Finn grins as he watches her change in attitude, secretly dancing inside that he's won another round against the girl and thanking Aerrow for saving his butt yet another time in his life.

Aerrow nods approvingly. This is one of the moments he writes down on his list of reasons why he likes being a leader of the Storm Hawks. He may not enjoy the fights Finn and Piper get into, but always loves to play peacekeeper between them. It's good practice, especially when he thinks about what other groups or parties he will have to come between in the future as a Sky Knight. Added bonus, he likes playing the good example for the team when the two make it seem like all hope is lost for the Storm Hawks.

Piper looks up at the ceiling and lets out a puff of hot air, blowing her blue bangs around her eyes. The weight of boredom, coupled with the growing heat of the passing day, is bugging her and no less lifting her spirits for looking forward to the rest of the afternoon. She's getting tired and she thinks maybe that it is a good time to catch up on something she hasn't done in months. Maybe years.

With a small groan, she pulls herself up and off the musty, old couch away from Finn and pulls into a quick stretch. A yawn escapes her.

"I think I've had enough of all this ..._hair_ talk. I'm gonna go and take a quick nap."

"Alright." Finn replies, seemingly not interested in her announcement. He looks too engrossed in the fruit fly buzzing in front of his face. Not waiting for anyone else's reply, she turns and heads with a _swish_ through the metal shaft and down the corridor to her lab.

Stork, who watched her leave until the door closed beneath her shrugs with a nonchalant gaze to the ceiling and heads for another metal door leading into another hallway, going where the rest of the boys don't know, and frankly don't care. Finn sighs dramatically.

"It's so _slow_ today..." He drones as he rubs a hand over his eyes. Aerrow nods but is not really playing attention.

As Radarr scampers back for the couch bored with watching Junko sleep for some time, Aerrow, who is still leaning over his knees, is running his hand through his hair looking into the mess of his bangs with a scrunched up look of discomfort.

"I guess it really _has_ been a while…" he mumbles to himself thoughtfully. "Next terra we stop at, I think I'll go find the nearest barber for a quick trim." Finn has his gaze on the boy watching him mildly interested.

"What do you think, Finn?" he asks a stupid question. Of course he should. Finn pretty much implied the action minutes ago.

Finn stares at Aerrow for some time then gives him a small shrug before looking ahead to the wall across the room.

"Up to you buddy." Inwardly, Finn cares more than he's just casually told Aerrow. Personally, he thinks long hair is sometimes unappealing and he doesn't want his home boy's to get any longer… and he knows Piper might think the same.

Suddenly, a thought jolts Finn's lethargic brain and the idea is so great, so deserving for a day as slow as this, that his entire body jerks in his seat. Aerrow jumps slightly by the sudden movement. He quickly turns to Finn and notices his brightened expression.

"What is it?" he asks with concern rimming his voice.

Finn shakes his head and gives the Sky Knight a fake apologetic look.

"Nothing! Nothing! Just uh…uh-I remembered something. That's all…" he says frantically, lifting his hands and waving them in a mock defence. Then before Aerrow can even make sense of Finn's strange behaviour, the shorter young man jumps out of his seat beside him and is walking quickly for the metal shaft where Piper just disappeared through.

"Be back in a bit, dude. I uh, left something in my room." Finn calls over his shoulder quite frenzied. Then with another _swish_, another Storm Hawk is gone.

Aerrow has an eyebrow raised and is still looking where Finn once was. But when Radarr hops onto the couch beside with a happy squawk, the red-head decides to forget about Finn's weird behaviour and focus on other friends currently in the room.

He goes to give Radarr a good scratch behind his ears.

**Eventually**…

* * *

Aerrow gets sleepy sitting on the couch. It's been about five minutes but in the increasingly warm room with Junko rumbling in a deep sleep and soon Radarr doing the same on his lap, the Sky Knight feels like an hour has already passed.

Not wanting to take a nap, like he's pretty sure everyone is doing on this ship by now, he moves Radarr gently off of his lap and into a curl. With a satisfied purr and shiver from the creature, Aerrow smiles and gets up slowly heading for the same metal door that Piper and Finn have already gone through. He decides to head for his own room and look for something to do.

"I might as well check where that mysterious ticking sound is coming from.." he says to himself as he walks down the metal-plated hallway, listening to the sound of his boots clanking across the floor. "Stupid thing's been keeping me awake all th…"Aerrow doesn't finish his sentence. His mind is more focused on registering what he is seeing than what he is saying. Normally when Piper is working or sleeping or for whatever reason, she always keeps her door closed.

'_In case something happens or goes wrong with the crystals in my room, I wouldn't want you guys getting in a freak accident, now would I?'_

So he raises his eyebrow for the second time that day. Then why is it open now?

He forgets his destination to his room altogether and heads closer to her doorframe, wanting to get a better look of what is going on in her room.

When he does, he blinks.

Wide-eyed and alarmed.

"_Finn!_" he whispers harshly. "_What in Atmos?–!_"

"_Shhh!_" the boy in question shoots back. His one hand is making the universal sign for _be quiet!_ against his lips, while the other is cautiously raised over the sleeping girl's head… poised and ready with a pair of scissors. Finn is like a gleep caught in headlights as he stares into Aerrow's face. He thought the red-head was sleeping on the couch!

_I knew I should've closed the door!,_ he mentally screams at himself.

Aerrow's alarm suddenly heightens to frustration. He stabs a finger in Finn's direction, pointing at him dangerously.

"_Finn! You get over here __right now!_" Aerrow whispers again but with more severity. To emphasize his irritated command, he brings his finger to point at a place beside him on the ground. Honestly, he sometimes feels like he's the father on this ship of crazed kids!

"_Aw come on, man! I'm not gonna do a bad job!_" Finn whispers back visibly freaking. "_Just-just lemme snip off an inch or two!_" Not even waiting for the red-head's reply, Finn is already leaning down over Piper sleeping form and is ready to take a strand of her long midnight blue hair in one hand, his other one still ready with the scissors.

"_Finn!_" Aerrow's whisper calls back loudly. Aerrow sprints over to where Finn is at the foot of Piper's bed and with the agility of the Sky Knight that he is, he covers Finn's mouth with one hand and skilfully snatches the scissors out of the sharpshooter's hand with the other. Finn yelps behind his hand, as he expects.

"_Have you gone completely insane? We're __both__ dead if she finds us in here while she's sleeping! And don't even get me __started__ on what you almost tried to pull just now!" _Aerrow whispers hysterically into Finn's ear. Finn's eyes are darting back and forth all over the room in fear and his talking is muffling slightly behind Aerrow's glove.

With a hard sigh, Aerrow turns his body around, pulling Finn around with him and when he is sure that he put his body in front of Piper's so that Finn can't get to her again, he releases his hold on Finn.

"_Out! Now!"_ Aerrow whispers as he gives him a light push. Finn stumbles a bit from his aftershock still wearing off, but he obeys Aerrow. He has to after all – he's a Sky Knight, he's their leader, and he always knows when to do the right thing.

"_Tch, dude! I was so close! Man…!_" he grumbles as he stalks out of the room and heads down the hall to his own room. He doesn't even bother to check back to see if Aerrow is following. He only fears that Aerrow will come back soon to yell at him again.

Aerrow sighs heavily. He walks over to Piper's desk and places the scissors back in their respective cup with the other utensils and runs a hand through his unruly long hair. Thinking about his hair as he looks at it over his forehead, he scowls again and thinks about what Finn just tried to do.

"_I can't believe some of the people on this ship...!_" he whispers to himself. Drastically, he wonders what other weird and twisted thoughts Finn might have for the rest of the members of this team. And Piper! Poor, poor Piper. Almost a victim to Finn's thoughts and actions again… but really, when was she never?

As he thinks about her narrow escape, he turns to look over his shoulder and stare at the sleeping young girl. Piper already knows the dangers that she has to live with both on and off the _Condor_, but the Sky Knight wondered if she was even prepared for things like this happening to her unexpectedly, in her sleep of all places.

After some seconds tick by, and with careful breathing, Aerrow feels his hysteria and fear start to calm down and away. The adrenaline leaves his nerves and his heart slows its manic thumping. And he finds himself wondering, rather than leaving the poor girl to he sleeping, how did she manage to even sleep through all that he and Finn just went through? She was notably a light-sleeper from what he knows. He and Finn were pretty much yelling right beside her for Pete's sake! He wonders how much of a nap she needs.

He watches as her chest moves up and down with the slow, rhythm of her breathing. A calm expression is spread all over her body. Not a touch of tension in her, the way he feels like he might look when he sleeps. He thinks maybe because the day is so slow and that they have nothing to look forward to… is maybe why she is so relaxed. Or maybe, afternoon naps are better than he thinks. He hasn't recently had one in as long as he can remember.

Her body looks smaller to him as she lies in her bed, so contained and looking safe in her own little bubble to which she doesn't know that he is seeing. He notes the way her hair is splayed out of her headband like a tornado on top of her head... It _is_ longer than he remembers. The ends look all curled and crinkled but the blue locks are still wispy farther up; he admires that about her hair. It always makes him think of the way the sky is before a windy storm rolls in.

Daring himself to try, Aerrow steels himself with confidence and briskly walks back over to her bed where she has no total awareness of his presence. In her curled position against the pillow with her body turned to the wall, he smiles softly. He is suddenly reminded of Radarr napping back on the couch like she. He doubts though that she is also dreaming of giant fruits.

But you can never be too sure with her and what goes on in her mind. He smirks.

After some contemplation he reaches a hand out and with a gentle grasp, he takes a hold of her bright orange headband and tugs on it until it slides over her skull and quickly through her hair. When it completely slides out, he pulls it away from her and squeezes it softly in his hand.

'_Ugh, sometimes I get a headache in the morning if I don't take this off! It squeezes around your head, you know?'_

He smiles down on her then rolls his eyes.

_"Ah, Piper. Poor Piper. Almost victim again to another one of Finn's schemes..._" he whispers to himself as he places the headband besides her head and turns to leave.

_"Good thing I was here."_

He shuts the door behind him and turns down the hallway.

Now he has to go deal with a blonde sharpshooter who's just been dying to get a visit from him.

Some seconds tick by and moments later, Piper stirs herself awake from her nap.

She sleepily lifts her head to look over her shoulder at her door.

She makes a face and groans slightly.

"Ugh, these boys..." she tells herself clearly still half-alseep as she speaks softly. "...sometimes they're so loud it's like they're standing right in this room... Geez."

And with that, she rolls back on her side and grumbles some more until she falls quickly back to sleep.

Her hair remains a tuft, messy blue and crazy like it always is.

* * *

_Wooh, if you've made it this far, comment and tell me what you think~ :) Although I'm pretty sure they're all capable of cutting their own hair, I just think it'd be cute to think that they would go into a hair salon/barbershop, don't you think? That was fun, ha! _

_Much love, Abby~_


End file.
